Method of manufacturing metal tubes.



W. J. JL J.l W. MOON.

METHOD 0F MANUFACTURING METAL TUBES. AA-1Y PL10ATI0H lFILED JUNE 11, 1907.

v v 3a J al y 6 /9 f4 29 9 :L-En M7- Patented May 14, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. J. da J. W. MOON.

METHOD 0F MANUPAGTURINGMETAL TUBES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1 907.I

72 fas-$111,'.

L# "f7/hrw WV. J. & J. W'. MOON. METHOD 0E MANUEAfYlUEINGv METAL TUBES.

APPLICATION FILED. JUNE 1l, 1907.

Patented May 14, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEicE.

WESLEY JAMES MOON AND JOHN WEST MOON, 0F HA'YiDEN HILL, OLD HILL, ENGLAND.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING METAL TUBES. d

ratenteurray14,1912.

Application filed .Tune 11, 1907. Serial No. 378,369.

Manufacturing Metal Tubes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to the manufacture ofbutt welded and lap welded steel and iron tubes, and consists of the improvements herein described whereby a perfect weld is assured without anyliability of the strip Ior skelp of which the tube is formed being damaged or deteriorated through overheating, and without any liability of an imperfect weld being secured because of the presence of foreign matter such as sand and scale on the welding edges of the strip or skelp.

At thepresent time, in one way of manufacturing butt Welded iron and steel tubes, the strips are heated to a Welding heat in the furnace and are drawn one at a time through a bell at the front of the furnace,'which has the effect of forming the strip into a tube and squeezing its edges together so asto make a butt Welded joint.- It sometimes happens, however, that the strip is made too hot so that it is buckled, or it' is burned, and an improper weld is formed, or the tube is elongated in the drawing and Welding process and is distorted and spoilt. It also frequently happens that foreignmatter such as sand, scale, etc., accumulates on the butt edges of the strip inthe furnace, and the presence of such matter makes a perfect weld impossible.

Our invention, which obviates all these defects, is v carried out as follows 4in the manufacture of butt welded tubes *Atv the front of the furnace and between it and the bell where the butt edges of the strip meet and are welded together, we employ one or more nozzles andan air blast (for an air and gas blast) passing through the nozzle or nozzles so arranged as to bedirected uponv the heated butt edges of the strip just prior to its passing through the bell.v The stri .isheated in thefurnace to that degree o4 heat atvwhich a cinderv is formed on the edges of the strip, said degree of heat being hereinafter called the cinder. stalge. Whilesome grades of iron and steel w1 weld properly at this cinder stage, so

that it is often spoken of as the welding heat, the ymajority of grades of iron and steel must be heatedbeyond the cinder stage to secure a heat at which a proper Weld can be made. We find that byapplying an air blast alone of ordinary temperature to the edges of the strip already brought to the cinder stage, the temperature of the edges will be raised to the proper welding heat for all grades of iron and steel, so that as the edges are pressed together by passing through the bell a. perfect butt weld is formed. Y It is obviousY that the same result will be obtained by the application of an air and gas blast. Thus-when employing our invention it is necessary to heatthe strip -only to the cinder stage, and therefore the furnace need not be hot enough to overheat and distort or-bur'n the strip, because by the application of the air blast or the air and 'gas blast in the manner aforesaid We obtain the proper welding heat only at the extreme edges of the strip at the moment prior to and during the welding process in the bell.

Thus a proper Weld is assured and the amount of waste is reduced to a mirlimum.

`We find that by the application of an air blast of substantial pressure in the manner aforesaid the edges of the strip are cleansed of all foreign mattersuch as sand, scale, etc., by blast force .or accelerated combustion, so that there is no longer any liability of an imperfect weld being formed due to the presence of suchforeignmatter on the edges of the strip. We find that by the aplication of an' air blast to the upper and ower flat surfaces of the strip just after it leaves the furnace the same cleansing effect c an be had on these surfaces, so that the interior and exterior .of the finished tube will be free from the aforesaid foreign matter.

Our invention is"alsosimilarly applied to the manufacture of lap Welded iron and steel tubes as in this case We employ the said one 4or more nozzles with the air blast (or air and gas blast) arranged to', be delivered and to impinge on the scarfed edges of the strip as it leaves the furnace and Justv before it passes through the welding rolls so that by this means the scarfed edges are raised to the `prop'erpwelding heat and a. proper and perfect lap weld is formed, the other art or body' of the tube meanwhile bein ess hot and therefore without. any risk o its being overheated.

" In the v aecolnpanying drawings are illusbeing made with trated apparatus that we prefer-to employ as a means of practically carrying out our improvedmethod. We do not hereinclaim such apparatus, as the same forms the sub- "l ject matter of a divisional application filed August 30, 1910, Serial No. 579,726.

Figure is a sectional plan of an arrangement for carrying out our improved process as applied to the manufacture of butt welded iron and steel tubes directly from flat strips;

Fig 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a cross sectional elevation .of the same taken on line X X of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is also across sectional elevation of the upper part of the same but showing a slightly modified arrangementof the guides for the strip; Fig. 5 showsan alternative form of blast pipe; Fig. 6 is a sectional plan of an arrangement for carrying out our improved process as applied to the manufacture of lap welded iron and steel tubes and Fig. 7 is a cross sectional elevation of this arrangement in line Y Y of Fig'. 6.

In the arrangement illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, 1 is the heated fiat iron or steel strip for formin the butt welded tube 2, and `3 is the mouth o the furnace from which the heated tube is being drawn throughthe bell 4 which, as is well known, is carried by the carriage 5 fixed on the draw bench 6. 7; 1s the blast pi e which we provide formed with two upwar ly projecting arms, 8, 9, which terminate in side blast pipes 10, 11, which are sli htly inclined to the horizontal cor-- respon ing with the path which the strip 1 takes in its passage from the furnace to the bell 4. The width of the gap 12 between these blast pipes 10, 11, has to be somewhat greater than the width of the widest strip which is required to pass between them. 13, 14, 15, are rollers arranged between and carried by the blast pipes 10, 1.1, to assist in supporting the strip 1. Or instead of these rollers,l the strip 1 may, as shown in Fig. 4, be supported in position by ledges 16, 17, fixed to andl projecting froml theinner sides of the blast pipes 10, 11. Each'of the blast pipes 10, 11, is made with an elongated slot shaped nozzle marked respectively 18, 19, arranged at the same inclination to the horizontal as is the strip 1 so that the blast passing through these nozzles 18, 19, will impinge directly u on the edges 20, 21,' of the v.strip 1. Instea of the blast pipes 10, 11, an elongated nozzle 18, 19, they may if desired and for Athe same purpose be each made with a row of round blast nozzles such as 22 Fig. 5. The combined blast pipe 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 is provided with feet 23, 24, by which it is fixed to the draw bench 6 so as to be movable therewith across the mouth of the furnace as will readily be understood.' The blast is supplied to the pipe 7 by a blast ipe 25 `from any convenient source an or mary stop valve 26 being employed for opening and shutting oil'the blast. As the heated strip 1 is being drawn out of the furnace Where it has been heated t0 a cinder stage and before and while it is being drawn through the bell 4 its edges 20, 21, are raised tothe proper welding heat by the air blast or mixed air and gas blast, which plays upon them through the nozzles 18, 19, and thus when they are pressed together in the bell 4 a perfect butt weld is formed. lVe find in actual practice that the air blast alone impinging on these heated edges as aforesaid'does increase their temperature up to the proper welding heat. The guide rollers` 13, 14, 15 or the ledges 16, 17 are so arranged as to properly support the strip 1 with its edges just level with the blast nozzles 18, 19, so that the-blast will play properly uponv said edges.

We do not find it necessary for the blast pipes 10, 11, to be made adjustable nearer together or farther apart to suit strips of di erent widths, as it 1s not imperative that the blast nozzles should be any particularl distance from the edges 20, 21, of the strip 1 so long as the blast properly impinges upon them as aforesaid.

In order to blow away any scale or sand which there may be on the upper or lower surface of'thestrip 1, a vertical air blast pipe 27 and 27 may be provided and arranged to deliver an air blast on to the top yor bottom of the strip as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to keep the strip 1 down on the guide rollers 13, 14, 15, or ledges 16, 17, so that its edges 20, 21, will be in the proper position for the blast passing through the nozzles 18, 19, to impinge upon them, a removable top plate 28' may be used and arranged to lit down on to the strip 1 between the blast pipes 10, 11, and carried by a l'ever 29 which turns on a fulcrum 30 which is provided with a lever arm 31 to which a connecting bar 32 is jointed, so that after the heated strip 1 has been drawn from the furnace and its end introduced into the bell 4, the connecting rod 32 can be pulled so as to turn the lever and bring the plate 28 down on to the strip 1 and thus prevent it rising out of position as stated above.

In the arrangement illustrated by Figs. 6 and 7 as applied to the manufacture of lap welded steel and iron' tubes and in`which, as is well known, the edges of the skelp are first scarfed down and nearly closed together ready for Welding, we-find that one blast pipe such as 33 is suflicient and this is made of a convenient length, say for instance two feet more or less, and is situated between the mouth 34 ofthe furnace'and the welding rolls 35 and isl fixed in such a position as shown that the blast issuing from its nozzle 36 will be directed rightinto the space between the two scarfed edges 37, 38, of the skelp 39 as itis passing from the furnace to the welding rolls 35 thus raising the scarfed ore they enter the welding rolls 35 and a proper and perfect lap weld is thus formed,

the other part of the tubemeanwhile being less hot and therefore without any risk of its being over-heated. The blast pipe 33 can readily be adjust-ably supported in position by a bracket or stand 40 in the top end of which fits the shank 41 of an eye piece 42 at right angles to the shank and in the latter there is a shank 43 which is fixed to and projects from the horizontal part of the blast pipe 33. The shank 43 is secured in the eye 42 by a set screw 44 and the shank 41 is held in the top part of the bracket 40 by a set screw 45. By this means the blast pipe '33 can be altered in position and set so that the blast passing through the nozzle 36 will impinge properly upon the scarfed edges 37, 38, as will readily be understood. 46 is the usual trough section guide which supports the skelp on its passage from thel furnace 34 to the closing and welding rolls 35.

` What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The herein described method of manufacturing iron and steel tubes from skelp, which consists in heating the skelp to a cinder stage before the edges of the same are brought together, withdrawing the skelp from the source of heat and feeding it continuously forward, directing a blast of gas containing oxygen against the exposed .edges of the skelp while the same is in the shape in which it emerges from the source of heat for the purpose of elevating the temperature of the edges and cleaning the same from foreign substances, and then simultaneously bringing the edges together and welding them, substantially as described.

2. The herein described method of manufacturing butt welded iron and steel tubes from fiat strips, which consists in subjecting the strip to the action of a suitable source of heat in which the strip is heated to about the cinder stage, withdrawing the heated strip from the source of heat and feeding it continuously forward, and while said strip is in motion simultaneously directing a blast of gas containing oxygen against the edges of the strip beyond the source of heat to elevate the temperature of the edges and clean the strips of foreign matter, thereby preparing them for welding, and subsequent-ly bending the strip into a tubular form and bringing and welding the edges together, substantially as described.

The herein described method of manufacturing butt welded iron and steel tubes from fiat strips, which consists in subjecting the strip to the action of a suitable source of heat in which the strip is heated to about the cinder stage, withdrawing the heated strip from the source of heat and feeding it continuously forward, and while said strip' is in ino-tion simultaneously directing blasts of gas containing oxygen 1n opposite directions toward the edg of the strip in substantially the lane of the moving strip, and then bending the strip in a tubular form and simultaneously therewith butt- 'welding the edges together, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WESLEY JAMES MOON. JOHN VEST MOON.

WVitnesses:

CHARLES Boswon'rn Kmmr, TnoMAs JOHN Rown. 

